Sri Lanka
harbors a rich and diverse fauna, especially in the perhumid
southwestern part of the island. A previous overview (Huber & Benjamin 2005) has
suggested that pholcid spiders are diverse on the island. However, no
more than 19 species were recorded from Sri Lanka until 2017, and of
these at least seven were introduced species. The present paper builds
mainly on the material I collected in 2017. It more than doubles
the number of native Sri Lankan Pholcidae. Native species belong to five genera, shown in this plate: Pholcus, Leptopholcus, Tissahamia, Belisana, and Wanniyala. Wanniyala is currently thought to be a Sri Lankan endemic genus and is the most diverse genus on the island. However, the Indian pholcid fauna remains almost entirely unknown and Wanniyala might also occur in the Western Ghats. |